Does Your Thinking Agree with God's?       Jim Abbot. 

There is no shortage of advice that man have written.  Why do people search out advice?  Because people need help with making decisions.

Human thinking is often based on sentimentality and emotion.

The problem with human advice is it is based on guess work and based on limited experience or to follow your heart.

Man sees all the lawlessness in the world and they are struck with depression and are unable to think, so they seek out advise. 

Prov. 3:5&6... trust in Jehovah with all your heart... and lean on him and not your own understanding...

If you consider the universe and how it is all constructed.  And consider how he created us as well and has been observing us since the beginning.  Clearly his has vast and marvelous wisdom, that we are invited to tap into.
He knows just what we need and provides us with his wonderful guidance. 

BUT... will we listen to what he says?

What is our attitude toward people?  
Consider the nation of Israel.  Jehovah warned them not to think like the other nations.  
James 4:4... adulteresses, do you not know, that friendship with the world is enmity with God?....

We clearly don't want to have the world's view of materialism, morality and so on.  
A movie critic bragged up a movie, and that he took his daughter to and he was proud of it.  The movie was about two girls who meet and have a lesbian relationship. Clearly, his thinking is not God's thinking

Luke 16:10...the person faithful in what is least, is faithful in much...
the person who does the little things, is trustworthy.
Satan has carefully crafted this world.  So we MUST be careful in what we listen to and make sure we keep our thinking in harmony with God's thinking.

Young people today are bombarded with so much while they are in school.  
The dress and grooming have degraded so low that often you can't tell who is and isn't a prostitute. Not just females, but guys with their pants nearly to their knees. 

Does our thinking agree with God's?  Do we see areas where we need to make adjustments, and will we make the adjustments?

How about sarcasm?  We have been consoled on it AGAIN... have we made an adjustment? 
Eph 4:22-24... put away the old personality... continue to be made new in your dominate mental attitude... put on the new personality...
We can't have the world's attitude... that is just how I am... or I can't change... or everyone else will just have to deal with it...
Does this attitude in thinking agree with God's thinking?

Gal 6:10... work what is good towards all...

When Jim lost his job... he would go get his coat on after the meeting and there would be money in the pockets, or in his bag.  One time they got home and there were 2 bags of groceries at their door.  That is working what is good towards all.

The time, money and effort that goes into raising children..that alone should be reason enough to show respect to our parents.  When our parents give us warning, they are just trying to help, so listen to them.

Eph 6:.... Children, be obedient to your parents...honor your father and your mother.... 
parents deserve it.   If you can't show respect to your parents who you can see, how are you going to show respect to Jehovah?  Jehovah gave parents the responsibility to take care of their children.

Jim's dad insisted he wear a helmet when bike riding.  Jim insisted he didn't need it.  His dad went and got his own helmet and gave it to him.  Jim doesn't remember what happened, if he wouldn't have had that helmet on, he wouldn't have lived. IF he wouldn't have listened to his dad (even though he was an adult at the time) he would have died.

Listen to our parents with respect!

Are we in agreement with God in regards to work?
Ecc 4:4... hard work but not to the point of striving after the wind...
Our attitude toward work will carry over to our working for the Kingdom
We have to be careful that we don't always stay late to work, or be overly competitive in work as it is pointless, but we need to be balanced.
On the other hand, If we are looking for an easy way out, it will effect our ministry.  some try to work as little as possible.  and they do the same with the ministry.  

Keep busy in the truth and determined to think the way Jehovah thinks and we will benefit much.




******************WT Sept 15th, 2013, pg 7
Jehovah's Reminders Are Trustworthy. 
Ps. 19:7... The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise.

What sort of reminders does Jehovah provide in the Scriptures?
About God's Kingdom, the ransom, the disciple making work, qualities such as faith and love,
There are messages of warning, various helpful reminders, regulations that are always trustworthy.

How can Jehovah's reminders help Christians today?
It helps to build the kind of faith that will preserve us alive into the  new world.
It helps us with matters of every day life, including maintaining a balanced view of material things and keeping a simple eye in order to reduce anxiety.   It guides us with our dress and grooming, choosing wholesome entertainment and the appropriate amount of education as well as safety  in our homes, automobiles, Kingdom Halls, and preparing for possible emergencies.

What reasons do we have for trusting Jehovah's reminders?
Jehovah has built up a record that we can put our trust in. We can find his dealing with imperfect humankind over thousands of years.  We have seen the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.  
 As we put FULL trust in Jehovah we can see more clearly his loving hand in sustaining and strengthening us.